I Thought St. Clair Transit Right Of Way Was A Given

But today I see that Stephen LeDrew opened his campaign with it

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and on the same day we have a column by Royson James

Voters are dangerously riled up over St. Clair streetcar project

Oct. 9, 2006. 01:00 AM

ROYSON JAMES

Toronto residents don't need real life, everyday evidence to feed their paranoia about city planners and politicians. So, providing them with just cause to be upset at city hall is dangerous, especially in an election year.

Take the St. Clair streetcar right-of-way, for example

It's fashionable to dismiss the opponents of the right-of-way as Woodbridge-living, car-loving, business-first, anti-transit boors who can't see the forest for the trees. After all, which progressive-minded individual can't see the value of making a midtown transit route more commuter-friendly — even if it is a slight inconvenience to the car?

The right-of-way from Yonge St., to just west of Keele St. is a six-inch platform for the streetcar that makes it all but impossible for cars to use the lanes, except where the platform is lowered to road level at some intersections. It is to become the third route with streetcar-only lanes, joining Spadina and the Harbourfront LRT.

Back in the 1990s, when the Spadina line was being rebuilt, the local opposition was incredibly vocal and virulent. As it turned out, business did not die, the disruption was minimal, the line is functional and good and reliable, though not great or spectacular.

Paul Magder, the Spadina furrier who endured the anti-Sunday shopping campaign waged against him by the Ontario government and is most responsible for us being able to shop on Sundays, says, like Sunday shopping, the Spadina right-of-way has turned out not to be nearly the evil it was predicted to be.

Getting there has been tortuous. Traffic accidents. Constantly changing rules and barriers. Confusion. And by now, you'd think the city would have learned how to implement such measures elsewhere in the city.

Not so, apparently. We're just into the start of the construction phase and already there are howls of protest and dissatisfaction.

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